Monday, January 12, 2015

Rocking with other Christians and Elder Bednar is coming to town...

Here we are, we have made it everyone, we have made it together
we have reached my 18 month mark on my mission this week, it is so weird to
think I am now 3/4ths of the way done with my mission. Time is flying by and we
got a pretty cool surprise for my 18 month mark. I found out that Elder Bednar
is coming to Lubbock to have a conference with us the day before, so I am so
stoked to be able to meet an apostle of the Lord. Then a member of the 1st bishopric
is coming down to speak in my Stake Conference, so I get to be blasted away by
the spirit. It is cool. This is the
first time an apostle has come to my mission since it was formed.

So some rad things happened this week. First off we are allowed
to go to other churches now if someone like invites us or just to go fellowship
with other Christians in my mission. So on Wednesday we went to TLC. (TheLifeChurch.)
It was so groovy no joke. We were kind of afraid to go in because of all of the
preachers in town that like to try to bash with us from the Bible…obviously
they don't win and then they get even more mad. But we were hoping to just go
and enjoy the service and worship together with our brothers and sisters. And
then we walk in. And we got some bad looks at first, but then we started
talking and then the entire congregation started to love us. Then we went into
the sanctuary for the service. This is where it begins..... The lights then
begin to dim. The stage lights up with a ray of beautiful color backgrounds. And
a spot light comes down. Then the Christian rock show worship began. It was so
much fun. Everyone was singing along, and I really could feel the spirit. We
were making friends with everyone. Like I said before when it is cold outside
we have no one to talk to. But because we did this we had hundreds of people to
talk to and people to later go and teach more!

The service began and it was really good, it was about fasting.
It was weird though, I could feel the spirit a lot, but when the pastor would
say something that wasn't entirely correct, the spirit would just go away
instantly. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true
because I have never had a feeling like that in church. I think that is why
some of our fellow Christians down here like to say the phrase "I can feel
the spirit with that." I think that is because they are so used to only
feeling the spirit with certain things their pastor says and not the exact
gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful to be able to be a member of the
restored gospel. I know how lucky I am to have found all of the teachings of
Christ and be able to feel the spirit always. But the coolest part of that
experience was at the end of the worship a man came up to us and said, "I
used to question your motives whenever I would see you guys, but know I see
that you are just true followers of Christ and you are welcome at my home
anytime”:)......it was so cool.

Okay so story number two. So we are teaching this family who the
father is not a member and mother and 16 and 14 year old daughters are very less
active. We have been meeting with them for a couple weeks now. They have met
with missionaries a lot in the past but have never gone anywhere, but Elder Sevey
and I both felt like we were the missionaries to help bring the spirit into
their homes. So we did and they said they would come to church (side note they
are hilarious and like big jokers) but they said they would come. And when they
woke up that next morning, he, the dad, the one who is not a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ was like, okay honey are you ready to go to church today? And she was like, no I don't really feel
like it....... and he was like well you’re going to hell haha... and she said, no
I will probably just go to the terrestrial kingdom… you know the sun, moon and
stars thing? And he said honey there is no such thing as the sun, moon and
stars...and the second, literally the second he did that, his child’s space toy
that you had to push the button for it to turn on above his bed, turned on and
their dark room ceiling lit up with the sun, moon and stars...(if you don't
know my scriptural reference look up 1 Corinthians 15:40-43 I believe). Then
after that he started jokingly screaming "that Mormon cult is messing with
our lights! I bet it was Christensen!" :) they literally received a full
sign from God that the plan of salvation is true and they could not deny it
because they prayed literally the night before they went to bed to know if what
we had just taught them was true.... that was an amazing experience. I am kind
of jealous cause I have never really seen or had anything like that happen to
me. And I’m pretty sure that doesn't happen to most of us. But I do know that
if we sincerely pray about the plan of salvation, God will give us an answer
100% that it is true. I know the plan of salvation is true, I know it is true
because first I have prayed about it and the Holy Ghost told me, and second
because it answers every question, literally nothing is left out. It is a
perfect plan that answers all of life questions. And if you don't know it I
challenge you to learn and study about it because it has changed my life and I
dig it:).

This is a long letter I know and I’m sorry, but I love you guys
and I want you to be out here with me having a good time! If you ever need
anything please let me know. I love you all so much, be safe.